Proof and Reasoning


So, let's talk about this. Whistleblower or traitor?


Proof is a preponderance of evidence connected through reasoning to lead one to take a persuader's advice.

Direct Experience - the most relative and yet when it's need is dire, the most difficult to come by.
Dramatic or Vicarious Experience (Second -hand testimony, witness) - the power of the narrative.

  • Narratives
"The narrative will carry more persuasive freight than any other form of evidence."

  • Testimony
As receivers we live vicariously through what witnesses experienced when we hear direct testimony. Studies show that testimony is more often unreliable or incorrect, because we see and hear what we want to see instead of the truth that exists outside our frame of reference.

  • Anecdotal
Short narratives that make a point in a hurry. An example from Wikipedia’s article:
“There’s abundant proof that God exists and is still performing miracles today. Just last week I read about a girl who was dying of cancer. Her whole family went to church and prayed for her, and she was cured."
  • Participation and Demonstration
350 Cubic Inches v. Friends



Types of Reasoning

Reasoning within an argument gives the rationale behind why one choice should be selected over another. Types of reasoning include:
  • Abduction: the process of creating explanatory hypotheses.
  • Analogical reasoning: relating things to novel other situations.
  • Cause-and-effect reasoning: showing causes and resulting effect.
    • Cause-to-effects reasoning: starting from the cause and going forward.
    • Effects-to-cause reasoning: starting from the effect and working backward.
  • Comparative reasoning: comparing one thing against another.
  • Conditional reasoning: using if...then...
  • Criteria reasoning: comparing against established criteria.
  • Decompositional reasoning: understand the parts to understand the whole.
  • Deductive reasoning: starting from the general rule and moving to specifics.
  • Inductive reasoning: starting from specifics and deriving a general rule.
  • Modal logic: arguing about necessity and possibility.
  • Traditional logic: assuming premises are correct.
  • Pros-vs-cons reasoning: using arguments both for and against a case.
  • Set-based reasoning: based on categories and membership relationships.
  • Systemic reasoning: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
  • Syllogistic reasoning: drawing conclusions from premises.
Note that these are not all mutually exclusive methods and several give different lenses onto overlapping areas. In classical argument, for example, all arguments are framed as either inductive or deductive.


Abuses of Reasoning
Statistics
Testimony